Red Wings beat Ducks, will face Blackhawks

May 13, 2013
|

by Helene St. James, USA TODAY Sports

by Helene St. James, USA TODAY Sports

Filed Under

ADVERTISEMENT

ANAHEIM, Calif. - The Detroit Red Wings went after every puck like it was a pot of gold, finished every check, banked two goals in the first period and another in the second period and cashed in with a trip to Chicago for round two of the playoffs.

By the time the third period rolled around Sunday night at Honda Center, the Red Wings were protecting a lead and held onto it to claim Game 7, 3-2, the first time in the series the Red Wings won in regulation.

"We wanted to have a good start and we did that," captain Henrik Zetterberg said. "Then we just kept playing. There were a few moments when they took over and we were on our heels a little bit, but overall, we played a good game. It was nice."

After upsetting the second-seeded Ducks, the Wings next will take on the top-seeded Blackhawks, who polished off the Minnesota Wild last Thursday.

The Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks will play in the other Western Conference series.

"It was good to see that we can move on," Zetterberg said. "It's been a different year for us, and the way we got it together at the end of the year and played our way into the postseason and kept going was really fun to see."

The NHL has not released a schedule, but Detroit's next series will open Wednesday at United Center. That gives the Red Wings at least a day and a half at home - they planned to fly home from Anaheim Monday - and the opportunity to practice Tuesday in Detroit before getting back on a plane. Under any circumstance playing the Blackhawks will not be as taxing traveling-wise as it was playing the Ducks, which over the past week required four three-hour time-zone changes.

The Blackhawks won all four meetings, though one required overtime and two went to a shootout.

"It's going to be fast-paced games," defenseman Niklas Kronwall said. "They have so much talent up front, they have puck-moving defensemen, they play at a high pace and at the same time, they've got some big bodies. Should be a tough match-up."

The Red Wings come into the series with good swaggering after the way they finished off round one.

They trailed after every odd game, were tied after every even game. When everything really was on the line in Game 7, though, the Red Wings outplayed the Ducks in every facet, winning every 50/50 battle, refraining from retaliation penalties.

Zetterberg and Justin Abdelkader bookended first-period goals around Emerson Etem's contribution. Valtteri Filppula backhanded a pass from Daniel Cleary for a 3-1 lead with six minutes to go in the second period. The Ducks cut it to 3-2 with 3:17 to play when Francois Beauchemin's power play shot went in off Jonathan Ericsson.

Each side switched up lines at the start of the game in an effort to outsmart the other, with the Red Wings separating Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk and the Ducks, Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry. The Red Wings got what they wanted out of it: A goal, 1:49 after the game began. Valtteri Filppula sent a shot on net, and the rebound popped into the slot, Zetterberg popped it back in the other direction, into an open net.

The Red Wings dominated the start with such mastery they outshot the Ducks 7-1 after five minutes. They weren't able to convert during a power play, which seemed to instill some energy into the Ducks, and then Anaheim got a power play. They didn't convert either, but got momentum on their side and scored 20 seconds later. Jonas Hiller sent the puck to Beauchemin, who found Etem in the neutral zone. Etem cross into Detroit's zone, swung left to right and flipped the puck behind Jimmy Howard to tie the game at 13:48.

When Kyle Quincey cross-checked Daniel Winnik so hard he needed attention from the trainer on the ice, the Red Wings had to go back on the penalty kill. A bad pass by Beauchemin enabled Abdelkader to get the puck right onto his stick; he immediately took off straight up the ice and scored with eight seconds left on Anaheim's power play. Howard finished off his first period with a glove save on Ben Lovejoy as the Ducks outshot the Wings, 12-11.

After that wild of a first period, both teams settled down to start the second period. Gustav Nyquist tried to make something happen with a bouncy rebound, but was rebuffed by Hiller. Howard denied Luca Sbisa even as the puck snuck through traffic, and Hiller followed up with a glove save on Datsyuk.

The Red Wings got their third goal with 6:15 to go in the second period. Zetterberg won a face-off, and when the puck squirted loose, Cleary gave chase. The puck went to Filppula, who registered his first goal of the playoffs. Matt Beleskey had something of a breakaway after Brendan Smith lost his balance and the puck, but Howard redirected the puck and chaser Teemu Selanne wasn't able to get a second go at it on the play.

A Quincey slash put the Wings shorthanded in the last 90 seconds of the second period, but Selanne helped out with a cross-checking penalty, ending the Ducks' power play after a minute.

The Ducks pressed hard in the final period and got a goal from Beauchemin, but the Red Wings had done too much work to be thwarted.

Helene St. James covers the NHL for the Detroit Free Press, a Gannett affliliate. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames